He covered a brief history of Politico and his take on the Republican primaries but spent the majority of his lecture focusing on Politico’s news reporting.

“We thought of ourselves as a website that happened to have a paper,” Nichols told students, saying focusing on web first differentiated Politico from other D.C. publications.

Politico, which was founded in 2007, is widely known as a website for political news but also publishes a 40,000 circulation paper that is hand-delivered to every member of Congress and lobbying groups across the Capitol Hill. The company follows several principles that differentiate it from its competitors, said Nichols.

One is embracing niche journalism. Nichols said Politico proudly defines its responsibility to political reporting and doesn’t attempt to overreach itself.

Nichols told students that it is one of the most difficult things to do in the modern media era.

“Readers once approached news as one meal, where they wanted everything on their plate at once,” he said. “Today, readers approach news consumption as a buffet, where they’ll come to Politico for politics and go elsewhere for other topics. Don’t try to cover everything, but cover a few topics better than anyone else.”

Nichols acknowledged that the migration of news from print to online means speedy reporting is in demand but advised students that first doesn’t always mean best.

“There are moments when we’d rather be second than be wrong,” he said. “There’s no question that speed can cause errors in critical judgment. For reporters, editors and political players, this is a brave new world.”

However, Nichols – who spent more than 20 years at USA Today before moving to Politico – said “old” journalism skills are still useful in today’s media market.

“Everything Politico has done that has made a mark is based on very old-fashioned reporting,” he said. “We value aggregation and the ability to connect with social media – but what we prize at Politico is the ability to do basic, solid reporting.”